The indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to have a big impact on people with long-term health conditions such as those with high blood pressure, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, depression, and cardiovascular disease. For this project, we plan to use data that is routinely collected in health care settings to investigate how lockdown has affected these individuals. We will see how their health has changed over lockdown, look at serious health problems that develop (including hospitalization and death), and work out the major risk factors for these events. This will help us identify which people should be given priority for face-to-face appointments as health care settings open up.
In addition, we want to look at which type of people with long term conditions are more likely to be readmitted to hospital after COVID-19, and finally we will look at different methods that can be used for answering these clinical questions.
We are collaborating with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and will use data collected in hospitals, at doctor surgeries, national Census data, and mortality data.
Our results will help identify which patients, including those with long term conditions and those discharged from hospital, should be prioritised for review and management by their general practices.
We will work to increase the benefit to the public by sharing our results widely with others via social media, academic publications and conferences, and patient groups and forums, using culturally appropriate messaging.
